A Metro Transit bus crashed into bushes near Lake Calhoun on Friday, July 26, 2013.

Dan Woods, Special to the Star Tribune

7 hurt in Metro Transit bus crash near Lake Calhoun

Article by: Tim Harlow

Star Tribune

July 26, 2013 - 10:12 PM

At least seven people were injured Friday morning when a Metro Transit bus crashed in a wooded area across from Lake Calhoun in south Minneapolis.

Metro Transit police spent Friday trying to figure out what caused the westbound Route 17 bus to go off Lake Street near W. Lake Calhoun Parkway and come to rest a few feet from the Midtown Greenway bike trail.

Six passengers were on board when the incident happened around 6:40 a.m. All were taken by ambulance to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis where they were treated for noncritical injuries, said hospital spokeswoman Christine Hill.

Initial reports indicated that Solovjovs might have suffered some kind of medical emergency, but transit officials said they were unable to point to that as the cause.

“The precise circumstances of this morning’s incident, including what happened to the operator and led the bus to veer off the road, remain under investigation,” Metro Transit spokesman Drew Kerr said.

Solovjovs has worked for Metro Transit since April 1994 and has a “favorable” safety record, Kerr said.

No information on Solovjovs’ medical background was available. He is being tested for drugs and alcohol, which is standard procedure, Kerr said.

The driver in a bus following Solovjovs’ bus saw the accident and called police.

The bus was taken to Metro Transit’s Overhaul Base in St. Paul to be examined and repaired. The extent of damage was not immediately known, Kerr said.